Trump revokes Biden's 2023 executive order that sought to reduce the risks that AI poses to consumers, workers, and national security, fulfilling a GOP pledge

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday revoked a 2023 executive order signed by Joe Biden that sought to reduce the risks …

Reuters 2025-01-21 David Shepardson

Context & Ripple Effects

This revocation is the opening move in a broader reversal of Biden-era AI policy. Days later, Trump issued an order framing prior AI policies as barriers to innovation and directing development away from “ideological bias,” reinforcing a different federal priority set toward an innovation- and neutrality-focused AI agenda.

Subsequent coverage shows that the rollback did not mean Washington abandoned AI policy altogether: later actions narrowed attention to cybersecurity risks in a scaled-back AI cybersecurity order and pursued a single federal approval source over proliferating state rules through proposed federal preemption of state AI laws.

First-order effects

The Biden AI-risk executive order no longer guides federal agencies, immediately ending its role as the administration’s umbrella framework for consumer, worker, and national-security AI safeguards.
AI companies and federal agencies face a policy reset: the new administration signals that the prior risk-reduction approach will be replaced rather than simply maintained.

Second-order effects

The repeal gives agencies and industry a basis to revisit AI-related programs and compliance expectations associated with the prior administration; later cybersecurity rollbacks show this reassessment extended beyond AI policy alone to Biden- and Obama-era cybersecurity programs.
States and other policymakers may face greater pressure to fill perceived governance gaps, while the federal government increasingly frames national uniformity as the alternative.

Third-order effects

If this sequence holds, U.S. AI governance will be shaped less by a standing cross-agency safety framework and more by targeted executive actions tied to competitiveness, ideological neutrality, cybersecurity, and federal control over state rules.
The durable fault line becomes not whether AI is governed, but whether governance is centralized in federal industrial policy and narrowly defined security measures or distributed across agencies and states.

The trend: This is an early data point in a shift from broad federal AI risk governance toward innovation-led, centrally directed AI policy with narrower security interventions.

Discussion

@ericjgeller.com Eric Geller on bluesky
Trump has rescinded Biden's AI executive order, as well as his EO laying out an order of succession for the Office of the National Cyber Director: www.whitehouse.gov/presidential... I wrote in October about how and why Trump might unwind Biden's AI safety agenda: www.wired.com/s…
@nparikh.org Neal Parikh on bluesky
This is why policy work is rough. I feel bad for the really good people who worked really hard on something like these AI EOs and other policies that can just disappear in the blink of an eye. It is *so* hard to put one of these things together and get it through all the bureau…
@nparikh.org Neal Parikh on bluesky
Well this is good. Now I can update my slides at *checks watch* 7:30 PM tonight for the beginning of class tomorrow afternoon. Actually, perfect timing for a point I was going to make (the revocation is bad, but I'm not being sarcastic). [embedded post]
@tonystark Tony Stark on bluesky
The relevant background here is Beijing views AI as a necessary component of NC3 because people are untrustworthy (standard Marxist dogma) but also that any arms control agreements are aimed at restricting the PRC and only the PRC. I don't think it's a surprise to Beijing but St…
@tonystark Tony Stark on bluesky
For those wondering, yes this is the one that says “please set standards for AI and weapons of mass destruction” (that's not why it was revoked, it has far more to do with domestic restrictions, but you get the point). [embedded post]
@nichcarlson Nicholas Carlson on threads
A16z gets its reward
@susansakmar Susan Sakmar on x
📣 WSJ summary of Trump Exec Orders. The devil will be in the details (TBD) and the one I'm really watching is the “national energy emergency” and how that expedites permits for energy projects, including LNG, USLNG, pipelines, AI data centers & more. 👀 [image]
@phil_lewis_ Philip Lewis on x
Here's some of the 78 Biden-era executive orders that have been reversed by Trump. Link to full list: https://www.whitehouse.gov/... [image]
@deanwball Dean W. Ball on x
President Trump just rescinded the Biden executive order on AI. The main thing this does is eliminate the reporting requirements on frontier models, since many of the EO's other provisions were already completed by agencies. [image]
@jordihays Jordi Hays on x
INCOMING WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL: TRUMP WILL ALSO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER BANNING CREATION OF NEW AI SALES REP STARTUPS Wow.
@jamescz19 James Czerniawski on x
Buh bye to the Biden Executive Order on #AI. Promises made, promises kept. @realDonaldTrump is 100 percent right to send that EO right to the shredder. Abusing emergency powers to circumvent Congress and its role in policymaking is unacceptable. https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@theojaffee Theo on x
Trump just repealed Biden's executive order on AI [image]
@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
President Trump has revoked the AI Executive Order. [image]
r/ArtistHate r on reddit
well this sucks.
r/politics r on reddit
Trump's List of Repealed Executive Orders
r/moderatepolitics r on reddit
Executive Order 14087 of October 14, 2022 (Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans).
r/artificial r on reddit
One-Minute Daily AI News 1/20/2025
r/law r on reddit
Trump repeals a slew of Biden's Executive Orders
r/healthcare r on reddit
Trump Repeals: Executive Order 14087 of October 14, 2022 (Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans)
r/blackmen r on reddit
Donald Trump has rescinded Joe Biden's executive order that sought to advance educational and economic equity for Black and Hispanic-Americans.
r/washdc r on reddit
Today's Full List of EO's Rescinded by 47
r/climatechange r on reddit
Reversing all of the Climate change initiatives of the past 4 years on day 1
r/economicCollapse r on reddit
Trump Repeals: Executive Order 14087 of October 14, 2022 (Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans)
r/technology r on reddit
Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks
r/singularity r on reddit
Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks
r/AmeriCorps r on reddit
Executive Order 14143 of January 16, 2025 (Providing for the Appointment of Alumni of AmeriCorps to the Competitive Service) - Has been revoked.
r/ControlProblem r on reddit
Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks
r/ChatGPT r on reddit
Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks
r/democrats r on reddit
Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks
r/somethingiswrong2024 r on reddit
Trump is Removing Biden's EOs
r/politics r on reddit
Initial Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions - The White House
r/Conservative r on reddit
Initial Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions - The White House
r/OpenAI r on reddit
Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks

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